HKS PolicyCast

Social Media, Blogs and RSS

HKS in the News February 7, 2012

1. Not just a game (Kayyem) The Boston Globe

Not just a game
The Boston Globe
February 6
Commentary by: Juliette Kayyem, Belfer Center
Topic: Soccer riot in Egypt

LAST NIGHT, there was a football game. A team won. This is, in its most basic narrative, all that happened. And while many will try to give greater meaning to the Super Bowl battle, there will be another one next year and the year after that. It is a monumental game, but it is not existential. And we should be grateful for that.

In Egypt, their football has real meaning. More than 70 deaths after a soccer game in Port Said, and the subsequent rallies and protests, laid bare the dueling tensions between order and independence. Simply put, is a soccer “thug’’ just a hooligan or a freedom fighter?